Green Chili Chops with Sweet Potatoes

The recipe notebook has become something bigger than I planned. What started six months ago as "healthy recipes for Roberto" has turned into a full project — forty-seven recipes now, organized by category, each one tested multiple times, each one designed to taste like the food my family has always eaten without the sugar and fat that's killing my father. I've been working on it at night, after the kids are down, sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop and my notebook and a cup of coffee, documenting every recipe with ingredients, technique, and notes.

The categories: Grilled Proteins (chicken, fish, shrimp, lean pork — all with bold marinades that compensate for the missing fat). Sides (black beans with cumin and lime instead of lard, grilled vegetables with chile-lime seasoning, cauliflower rice that Roberto will eat if I don't tell him what it is). Salsas (all naturally low-sugar, all high-flavor — the backbone of every meal). Tortilla Alternatives (the modified almond-cassava blend that Dad has grudgingly accepted). And a new section I'm calling Firehouse Adaptations — healthier versions of the meals I cook at Station 19, because my crew deserves better than chicken fried steak seven days a week, even if they don't know it yet.

Jessica found me working on it at midnight on Wednesday. She sat down across from me and read through the pages and said, "You know this could be a cookbook, right?" I said, "It's not a cookbook. It's for Dad." She said, "It can be both." I told her to go to bed. She's not wrong, but I'm not ready to think about that. Right now it's for Roberto. Everything else can wait.

The firehouse adaptation I'm proudest of: a green chile stew that uses chicken breast instead of pork and sweet potato instead of regular potato. Same Hatch green chiles, same cumin and oregano, same three-hour simmer. The guys ate it without realizing it was different. Travis said, "This tastes lighter." I said, "It is lighter." He asked if that meant less flavor. I said taste it and tell me. He had two bowls.

Elena called me Thursday. She said Roberto has been going through the notebook when he thinks she's not watching. "He reads it at the kitchen table, mijo. He reads every page." My father, who expresses emotion through carne asada and silence, is reading my recipe notebook. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

The stew Travis ate two bowls of — that’s the one I keep coming back to when I want to show people what this whole project is really about. Green Chili Chops with Sweet Potatoes was the blueprint: same Hatch chiles, same long simmer, same soul — just built smarter. I’ve written it out cleanly here, the way I’d want Roberto to find it in the notebook, with every step accounted for so there’s no guessing and no reason to reach for the old version.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 2 hrs 40 min | Total Time: 3 hrs | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless pork loin chops, trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 can (7 oz) diced Hatch green chiles, undrained
1 medium white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (for serving)
Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

Sear the pork. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season pork chunks with salt and pepper. Working in batches, sear pork on all sides until browned, about 3–4 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Sweat the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to the same pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Build the base. Stir in the green chiles (with liquid), fire-roasted tomatoes, chicken broth, cumin, oregano, and smoked paprika. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot — that’s where the flavor lives.
Return the pork and simmer. Add the seared pork back into the pot. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the sweet potatoes. Uncover and stir in the sweet potato cubes. Cover and continue simmering over low heat for 45–55 minutes more, until the sweet potatoes are fork-tender and the pork pulls apart easily.
Adjust and finish. Taste and adjust seasoning. If the stew is thinner than you’d like, simmer uncovered for an additional 10 minutes to reduce. The sweet potato will naturally thicken the broth as it cooks down.
Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh cilantro. Serve with lime wedges on the side and warm corn tortillas if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Green Chili Chops with Sweet Potatoes — The Recipe That Made Travis Ask for Seconds